96 BEST WINE DISTRICTS. CHAP. v. 



first more freely, but the wine is weaker in body, and the 

 plant is soon worn out. The best soil, both for wine and 

 the endurance of the vine, is saibro with a mixture of stones, 

 the plant being always partial to stony or rocky ground. 



BEST WINE DISTRICTS. 



The finest wines of Madeira are produced in the parishes 

 of Camera de Lobos, S a .° Martinho, and S a .° Pedro ; in the 

 lower parts of Santo Antonio, the Estreito de Camera de 

 Lobos, Campanario, S a .° Roque, and S 1 . Gonc^lo. The upper 

 parts of the five last parishes produce only second and third- 

 rate wines. The finest Malmsey and Sercial are from the 

 Fajaa dos Padres, at the foot of Cabo Girao, and from the 

 Paul and Jardirn do Mar. 



The best vine to graft on is the stock of the Malmsey. 

 The best vine to plant in the south is the Yerdelho. It is 

 obtained either from the north or from the Curral das Freiras. 



The length of time that a vineyard will last depends as 

 much on the cultivator as on the quality of his soil. Where 

 the farmer is careless, or intent only on his bemfeitorias*, the 

 vines are often huddled into the ground close together, when 

 they grow up weak and sickly, yield comparatively but little 

 fruit, and die off in eight or ten years, unless forced to exist 

 a few years longer by parsimonious doses of manure. A pru- 

 dent cultivator will plant his vines ten or twelve pdhnos\ 

 apart, when in the same ground, with proper treatment, the 

 plants will yield better, and last from fifty to a hundred 

 years. 



The vines, excepting in the north of the island, where they 

 luxuriate wild on the branches of the chestnut trees, are 



* Explained at page 108. + Spans. 



